Rain, rain and more rain...

15:11:09 Reminiscent of the early regattas, lengthy downpours were experienced throughout the first passage race from Pt Klang to Pangkor Island. A heavily laden overcast sky and 6 to 8 knots of SW breeze at the start had crews grappling with close reaching sails and rapidly disappearing off into the distance. By mid afternoon the SW breeze built to 15 knots and began to make its presence felt. A broken mast for Ken Barber's Hunter 40 Unity became the first casualty. A couple of groundings were reported and several shredded sails came ashore at Pangkor this morning. Usually the rain storms last for about half an hour but on this occasion it started before sunset and lasted most the night. The saving grace was there was plenty of wind for the boats to proceed through the storm and although everyone got a good dousing most the racing class finished in record time well before midnight.

After a bit of foxing around during the Racing Class pre-start, when the horn sounded the crews broke out the close reaching sails to propel themselves off the line in pursuit of the classes that had started earlier. Early gains and late losses are determined by where the boat is when the storm hits and the resultant wind direction changes. Crew work and sail selection also plays an important role. Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52 Hi Fi was first across the start line and although several changes occurred along the way they managed to out run Frank Pong's Reichel-Pugh 75ft Boracay Jelik II to take line honours on the 100 mile course in 9 hours and 33 minutes. Arch rival Ray Roberts also had the hammer down on his TP 52 Evolution Racing to finish nine minutes latter with Frank Pong's Boracay Jelik II a further eleven minutes behind. When handicaps are applied Hi Fi takes first place, Evolution Racing second and Sam Chan's Ffreefire 52 mostly with delivery crew and pier head jumpers onboard slotted into a respectable third place.

Last years Premier Cruising Class champions Hans Rahmann's Judel/Vrolijk 70 Yasooda are seriously out to win the Jugra Cup again and by taking out the daily double of line and handicap honours on Race 1 are clearly showing their intentions. Dr Ian Nicolson's Dubois 80 Intrigue were next to cross the finish line and earn themselves second spot. A couple hours latter Antony Hastings Beneteau 53 Baby Tonga breasted the line to secure third place.

A little tweaking of the class entries after the registration has resulted in Sarab Singh's Sydney 40MOD Windsikher and Jon Wardill's Cassidy 55 Australian Maid being relegated to IRC Class 3. Maybe to the demise of the other entries as Windsikher took first place and Australian Maid line honours and second place. Ben Copley Club Swan 42 Katsu showed her pedigree to slot into third place.

The eleven boat IRC 4 class staged an exciting battle throughout the night with Jeff Harris Elan 340 Rapscallion and Stuart Williamson's Beneteau 34.7 Skandia EOW never separated by more than a few seconds for the entire journey. But Bryan Gauson's Farr 1104 PICCOLO surprised them all by correcting out into first place to show that the 1976 Sydney Hobart Race and 2001 Raja Muda winner still has some life left in her yet. Second came Rapscallion and less than a minute latter Skandia EOW in third spot.

The non-IRC Cruising classes 5 & 6 started two hours earlier than the main fleet of racers. A strong out going tide and little breeze caught a few skippers over the line early and had difficulties getting back to correct thier mistake. Class 5 can use thier motor but have to declare the usage time, which is multiplied by 1.5, then added to the elapsed time. Rod Heikell's Skylax sailed most of the race and motored the least to claim first place. Singapore's Leslie Fung on Todak 2 corrected into second place and John Greenwood's Tzigane into third place

In Class 6 Simon Morris' Aussie classic Sirius 1935 sailed briskly to the fore on this occasion. Newcomer to the class Heinz Lorenzen's Rolling Home also reveled in the conditions to secure second place.

Next up is the prize presentation at the Seaview Resort tonight, then the challenging Pangkor to Penang passage race starting on Monday. This is when the endurance test really kicks in and as crews are making readjustments and getting used to the conditions we can expect some fire works on the next leg.

More info on the 20th Raja Muda Selangor Int. Regatta at: http://www.rmsir.com

Goto AY Race Report 6 & Summary
AY Race Report 5
AY Race Report 4
AY Race Report 3
AY Race Report 2
AY Pre-Regatta Report
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